Dalziel Rugby Club back teenager Molly Cuthbert in her quest to become a referee

Dalziel Rugby Club's first female trainee referee Molly Cuthbert with Jake Wilson (left), President of the West of Scotland Referees’ Society and Les Barclay, Dalziel RFC president

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Dalziel Rugby Club have continued a proud tradition by supporting Molly Cuthbert in her quest to become a referee.

Molly (16) has been training to be a referee for the last 12 months and has progressed to the extent that she was tasked with officiating during the Lanarkshire Cup in pre-season.

A fifth-year pupil at Our Lady’s High School in Motherwell, Molly got into rugby two years ago when her stepdad David, a player at Dalziel, began coaching her brother’s youth team.

Molly’s love of the game progressed to assisting with the under-15s age group and attending training three times a week – more than the senior squad!

She said: “I never had an interest in the sport to begin with, but after going to training and seeing what happened, I wanted to learn more and get more involved.”

Under the watchful eye of her mentor David Jamieson, Molly is able to pick up on things she has missed, and in areas of development.

Molly admits she has a long way to go, and feels that her biggest challenge is gaining the respect of players and coaches who are usually bigger than her.

“Because I’m younger and smaller than most coaches and parents they presume I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said.

Molly has been given a referee’s kit by the West of Scotland Referees’ Society to help her on her way, Dalziel have since donated the cost of her kit, as well as that for Daniel Bartlett, another young up-and-coming whistler from Dalziel.

Dalziel’s referee co-ordinator Davie Jamieson said: “Molly has been progressing well and I was very pleased with her performance in the Lanarkshire Cup, where she was refereeing grown men over twice her size.

“Dalziel have a proud tradition of producing referees, and it is great to see this move into the female game.”

Molly is following in the foot-steps of such Dalziel members as George Barr, John McKenzie, Dougie Muir, Gus Tweedale and Paul Warnock in representing the club as referees.

Dalziel president Les Barclay said: “I have been really impressed with how Molly has stepped into refereeing; she has a natural talent that belies her age.

“I have watched her refereeing all ages and she is a confident and very capable referee.

“The West of Scotland Rugby Referee Academy is a great way of introducing young referee talent into rugby.”